Microsoft warns of price rises to on-premise and cloud portfolios

The cost of Office 2019 and Windows 10 Enterprise will increase by 10%

Microsoft has warned the prices for its on-premises and Virtual Cloudsducts will rise from October including a 10% jump for Office 2019 and Windows 10 Enterprise.

The company explained the hikes will help prepare the company for its "cloud-first" future and will enable it to focus more on the customer rather than its channel programmes. It will also introduce more consistency and transparency for both partners and end-customers.

Volume discounts in Enterprise Agreement (EA)/EA Subscription, MPSA, Select/ Select Plus, and Open programs will be discontinued and the company will introduce a revamped Customer Price Sheet that explains how a particular price was calculated for direct EA and EAS customers.

"Microsoft will be making a series of changes across our program and product portfolio to provide unique offers that support customer digital transformation, improve the buying and selling experience, and make it easier to do business with Microsoft," the company said in a note to partners. "We continue to execute on our Modern Commerce strategy by introducing programmatic changes across our VL programs that relate specifically to offer pricing and discounting."

The new pricing structure is designed to be more straightforward for partners and should make it easier for them to sell to end users. This is especially the case for public sector customers who will now pay the "lowest commercial price" for Microsoft's products.

As part of the same revamp, Microsoft will also re-name its Windows Enterprise E3 offers, including changing Windows 10 Enterprise E3 per User to Windows 10 Enterprise E3 and Windows 10 Enterprise E3 per Device to Windows 10 Enterprise. Windows 10 Enterprise E5 per device will no longer exist.